Against Anthropocentrism: the Destruction of the Built Environment As a Distinct Form of Political Violence
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The Affliction of Human Supremacy
www.ecologicalcitizen.net LONG ARTICLE The affliction of human supremacy This article dissects the motivations behind and consequences of the worldview of Eileen Crist anthropocentrism, or human supremacy. Firstly, the author presents the just-so stories arising from the notion that the impact of humanity stems from our species’ essence. Instead, About the author the author argues, it is socio-cultural conditioning – specifically, the human-supremacist Eileen has been teaching credo propagated by the dominant culture – to which we must turn in order to properly at Virginia Tech in the understand humanity’s impact. Next, the typical beliefs arising from human supremacy Department of Science and are exposed, as are examples of its products: ideational and physical displacements. The Technology in Society since 1997. She has written and author also discusses the wisdom of limitations, the danger of shifting ecological baselines co-edited numerous papers and general ignorance of the current mass extinction event. Finally, after cautioning against and books, with her work the cult of techno-fixes, a brighter future is presented, which would be made possible by focusing on biodiversity rejecting the human-supremacist credo. loss and destruction of wild places, along with pathways to halt these trends. Eileen 2013 Economist article titled By contrast, the positive version of is a Consulting Editor to “Robochop: An Automated Jellyfish human nature as underlying driver of the Journal and lives in A Exterminator Takes to the Sea” planetary impact insists that we are after Blacksburg, VA, USA. reported a problem: innumerable jellyfish all special, perhaps even god-like. But so clogged the pipes of a Swedish nuclear far, this storyline continues, humans have Citation power plant, forcing it to shut down. -
Neoliberalism and Justice in Education for Sustainable Development: a Call for Inclusive Pluralism
Environmental Education Research ISSN: 1350-4622 (Print) 1469-5871 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ceer20 Neoliberalism and justice in education for sustainable development: a call for inclusive pluralism Helen Kopnina & Brett Cherniak To cite this article: Helen Kopnina & Brett Cherniak (2016) Neoliberalism and justice in education for sustainable development: a call for inclusive pluralism, Environmental Education Research, 22:6, 827-841, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2016.1149550 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1149550 © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 15 Mar 2016. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 938 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 3 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ceer20 Environmental Education Research, 2016 Vol. 22, No. 6, 827–841, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1149550 Neoliberalism and justice in education for sustainable development: a call for inclusive pluralism Helen Kopninaa* and Brett Cherniakb aFaculty Social and Behavioural Sciences, Institute Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; bIndependent Researcher, Ontario, Canada (Received 5 March 2015; accepted 24 January 2016) Commonly conceived, sustainable development is concerned with social and economic equity and maintenance of ecological stability for future generations. The Brundtland Report addresses the ethical principles of intragenerational and intergenerational equity as fundamental pillars of sustainable development. This equity is often defined in economic terms, involving fair distribution of natural resources, and in practice dependent on the workings of a neoliberal market economy. -
Environmental Ethics Anthropocentrism
Environmental Ethics Anthropocentrism Introduction Anthropcentrism is the world view that places human beings as the center of the cosmos Five Interconnected Themes: 1) natural order has a grand hierarchy (a “Great Chain of Being) 2) the ontological divide between human and nonhuman nature 3) nature as a machine 4) only humans beings have intrinsic value/nature has only instrumental value 5) the moral community is limited to human beings Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) The Summa Contra Gentiles develops the ethical implications of the Great Chain of Being humans are closest to the likeness of God rational creatures exercise free will God bestows intrinsic value on rational creatures “Accordingly intellectual creatures are ruled by God, as though He cared for them for their own sake, while other creatures are ruled as being directed to rational creatures” (63) other creatures are slaves to their environment their actions casually determined by the environment thus human beings alone are morally considerable only human beings have freedom “he is free who is cause of himself . intellectual nature alone is free” human beings have the right to subjugate other beings below on the hierarchy “Hereby is refuted the error of those who said it is sinful for man to kill dumb animals: for by divine providence they are intended for man’s use in the natural order” (64) anticipating Kant, the only danger in killing dumb animals is that such behavior might lead to cruelty to human beings Francis Bacon (1561-1626) The Great Instauration focus of knowledge should be practical the improvement of the human condition knowledge is power over nature “the roads to human power and to human knowledge lie close together, and are nearly the same” this view of knowledge as power is stated more clearly in New Organon (1620) Title refers to Aristotle’s logical and methodological works known collectively as the Organon this will be a new organon, thus a new scientific method “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. -
Humans, Robots, and Legal Imagination
laws Article Subject (in) Trouble: Humans, Robots, and Legal Imagination Ana Oliveira Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, 3000-995 Coimbra, Portugal; [email protected] Academic Editor: Margaret Thornton Received: 30 September 2019; Accepted: 30 March 2020; Published: 31 March 2020 Abstract: The legal conception and interpretation of the subject of law have long been challenged by different theoretical backgrounds: from the feminist critiques of the patriarchal nature of law and its subjects to the Marxist critiques of its capitalist ideological nature and the anti-racist critiques of its colonial nature. These perspectives are, in turn, challenged by anarchist, queer, and crip conceptions that, while compelling a critical return to the subject, the structure and the law also serve as an inspiration for arguments that deplete the structures and render them hostages of the sovereignty of the subject’ self-fiction. Identity Wars (a possible epithet for this political and epistemological battle to establish meaning through which power is exercised) have, for their part, been challenged by a renewed axiological consensus, here introduced by posthuman critical theory: species hierarchy and anthropocentric exceptionalism. As concepts and matter, questioning human exceptionalism has created new legal issues: from ecosexual weddings with the sea, the sun, or a horse; to human rights of animals; to granting legal personhood to nature; to human rights of machines, inter alia the right to (or not to) consent. Part of a wider movement on legal theory, which extends the notion of legal subjectivity to non-human agents, the subject is increasingly in trouble. From Science Fiction to hyperrealist materialism, this paper intends to signal some of the normative problems introduced, firstly, by the sovereignty of the subject’s self-fiction; and, secondly, by the anthropomorphization of high-tech robotics. -
The Covid Pandemic, 'Pivotal' Moments, And
Animal Studies Journal Volume 10 Number 1 Article 10 2021 The Covid Pandemic, ‘Pivotal’ Moments, and Persistent Anthropocentrism: Interrogating the (Il)legitimacy of Critical Animal Perspectives Paula Arcari Edge Hill University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, and the Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons Recommended Citation Arcari, Paula, The Covid Pandemic, ‘Pivotal’ Moments, and Persistent Anthropocentrism: Interrogating the (Il)legitimacy of Critical Animal Perspectives, Animal Studies Journal, 10(1), 2021, 186-239. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol10/iss1/10 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] The Covid Pandemic, ‘Pivotal’ Moments, and Persistent Anthropocentrism: Interrogating the (Il)legitimacy of Critical Animal Perspectives Abstract Situated alongside, and intertwined with, climate change and the relentless destruction of ‘wild’ nature, the global Covid-19 pandemic should have instigated serious reflection on our profligate use and careless treatment of other animals. Widespread references to ‘pivotal moments’ and the need for a reset in human relations with ‘nature’ appeared promising. However, important questions surrounding the pandemic’s origins and its wider context continue to be ignored and, as a result, this moment has proved anything but pivotal for animals. To explore this disconnect, this paper undertakes an analysis of dominant Covid discourses across key knowledge sites comprising mainstream media, major organizations, academia, and including prominent animal advocacy organizations. Drawing on the core tenets of Critical Animal Studies, the concept of critical animal perspectives is advanced as a way to assess these discourses and explore the illegitimacy of alternative ways of thinking about animals. -
A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict Kelly Guerin University of Colorado Boulder
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CU Scholar Institutional Repository University of Colorado, Boulder CU Scholar Undergraduate Honors Theses Honors Program Spring 2014 Where's the Beef? (With Vegans): A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict Kelly Guerin University of Colorado Boulder Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.colorado.edu/honr_theses Recommended Citation Guerin, Kelly, "Where's the Beef? (With Vegans): A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict" (2014). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 109. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Honors Program at CU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of CU Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Guerin 1 Where’s the Beef? (With Vegans): A Qualitative Study of Vegan-Omnivore Conflict Kelly Guerin Anthropology Departmental Honors Thesis University of Colorado at Boulder Defended April 4th, 2014 Thesis Advisor Dr. Darna Dufour, Department of Anthropology Defense Committee Dr. Abby Hickcox, Honors Program Dr. Steven Leigh, Department of Anthropology Approved by IRB on November 17th, 2013 Guerin 2 Introduction In 2010, the United Nations Environment Programme issued a groundbreaking environmental impact report focusing on the causes, rather than effects, of environmental degradation and stressed that agriculture be moved into the spotlight as a main contributor to the rapid depletion of resources. It was cited that agriculture accounts for 70% of the earth’s freshwater, 38% of total land use, 19% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Shockingly, half of the crops produced were directed to the raising of livestock (UNEP report, 2010). -
Thinking Gender, Nature and Power Together: a Hope for Standpoint Ecofeminism
THINKING GENDER, NATURE AND POWER TOGETHER: A HOPE FOR STANDPOINT ECOFEMINISM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUTE SCHOOL OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY TUĞÇE ÇETĠNKAYA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN GENDER AND WOMEN‘S STUDIES AUGUST 2019 iii Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sadettin Kirazcı Director (Acting) I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Saktanber Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Mehmet C. Ecevit Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Zühal Yeşilyurt Gündüz (TEDU, PSIR) Prof. Dr. Mehmet C. Ecevit (METU, SOC) Assist. Prof. Dr. Barış Kuymulu (METU, SOC) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name : Tuğçe Çetinkaya Signature : iii ABSTRACT THINKING GENDER, NATURE AND POWER: A HOPE FOR STANDPOINT ECOFEMINISM Çetinkaya, Tuğçe M.S., Department of Gender and Women‘s Studies Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mehmet C. Ecevit August 2019, 112 pages Ecofeminism focuses on the relation between the domination on women and nature and provides widened critique of domination by including the analysis of anthropocentrism in feminism, which is nurtured by the analysis of sexism, capitalism, racism, ethnicity and heterosexism; therefore, it presents an imagination of freedom aimed at including nonhuman entities. -
Gender Pronoun Use in the University Classroom: a Post-Humanist Perspective
Transformation in Higher Education ISSN: (Online) 2519-5638, (Print) 2415-0991 Page 1 of 11 Original Research Gender pronoun use in the university classroom: A post-humanist perspective Authors: Background: This article explores the political impact of using gender neutral pronouns in the 1 Marcos Norris university classroom. Andrew Welch1 Aim: We explore how the gender neutral pronoun ‘they’ denaturalises essentialist models of Affiliations: 1Department of English, gender identity. We follow ‘they’ toward a consideration of the gender neutral pronoun ‘it.’ ‘It’ Loyola University Chicago, advances – at the same time that it problematises – the political project of non-binary Chicago, United States communities to denaturalise gender by challenging an anthropocentric model of equal rights. Corresponding author: Setting: We examine the latent humanism of pronoun use through our contrasting approaches Marcos Norris, to gender pronoun use in our writing courses. [email protected] Methods: First we discuss the role of genderneutral pronouns in building a more inclusive Dates: classroom environment for gender non-conforming students. We then consider our respective Received: 29 Oct. 2019 Accepted: 06 Mar. 2019 pedagogical approaches to pronoun use. Andrew avoids pronoun use in the classroom, Published: 25 May 2020 addressing his students by their first names instead, while Marcos makes pronoun use and gender identity a central part of his course curriculum. We then consider the pronoun ‘it’ from How to cite this article: a posthumanist perspective, arguing that ‘it’ might help to overcome the violent legacy of Norris, M. & Welch, A., 2020, ‘Gender pronoun use in the humanism by building a more inclusive classroom environment for gender-nonconforming university classroom: A students. -
Feminism and the Mastery of Nature/Val Plumwood
Feminism and the Mastery of Nature Feminism and the Mastery of Nature draws on the feminist critique of reason to argue that the master form of rationality of western culture has been systematically unable to acknowledge dependency on nature, the sphere of those it has defined as ‘inferior’ others. Because its knowledge of the world is sytematically distorted by the elite domination which has shaped it, the master rationality has developed ‘blind spots’ which may threaten our survival. The future depends increasingly on our ability to create a truly democratic and ecological culture beyond dualism. The book shows how the feminist critique of dominant forms of rationality can be extended to integrate theories of gender, race and class oppression with that of the domination of nature. Val Plumwood illuminates the relationship between women and nature, and between ecological feminism and other feminist theories. Exploring the contribution feminist theory can make to radical green thought and to the development of a better environmental philosophy, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature challenges much existing work in green theory and environmental philosophy, and engages with the heavily masculine presence which has inhabited many accounts of the area. It will be essential reading for those working in these areas, and for all those seeking to understand the historical, philosophical and cultural roots of the environmental crisis and the culture of denial which blocks response to it. Val Plumwood teaches in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Feminism for Today General Editor: Teresa Brennan. The Regime of the Brother After the Patriarchy Juliet Flower MacCannell History After Lacan Teresa Brennan Feminism and the Mastery of Nature Val Plumwood London and New York First published 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. -
Anthropocentrism and Androcentrism – an Ecofeminist Connection
Södertörns högskola | Institutionen för Kultur och Kommunikation D-uppsats 15 hp | Filosofi | Höstterminen 2009 Anthropocentrism and Androcentrism – An Ecofeminist Connection Av: Daniel Pérez Marina Handledare: Hans Ruin CONTENTS Introduction 1 Karen Warren’s Ecofeminism 3 What is Ecofeminism? 3 Warren on anthropocentrism and androcentrism 13 Anthropocentrism 15 Human bias 15 Human chauvinism 16 Anthropocentrism / Human-centrism / Human-centeredness 17 Androcentrism 29 Male bias 29 Male chauvinism 31 Androcentrism / Male-centrism / Male-centeredness 32 Androcentrism, Anthropocentrism, and Warren 45 Bibliography 52 INTRODUCTION The starting point of this paper is an ecofeminist claim, namely anthropocentrism has been androcentric. My purpose will be to discuss and explain this statement. Ecofeminism, anthropocentrism, and androcentrism will therefore be the central themes. In the first chapter I shall introduce ecofeminism. It will be Karen J. Warren’s version of it that I shall describe. Karen Warren (b. 1947) has significantly contributed to the development of the philosophical aspects of ecofeminism as well as to the establishment of ecofeminist philosophy as a scholarly field. She writes about ecofeminism in the West, and to the question ‘what is ecofeminism?’ she responds that it is the perspective that, despite differences and disagreements, asserts and presupposes that: (1) There exists a system of oppression that enforces the domination of nature. (2) There exists a system of oppression that enforces the domination of women. (3) -
Dark Green Religion
chapter 1 Introducing Religion and Dark Green Religion This chapter explores terms that are central to this study: religion, spiri- tuality, nature religion, green religion, and dark green religion. Although this sort of linguistic labor may seem most pertinent to those with back- grounds in anthropology and religious studies, it should be even more valuable to those with little background in the academic study of reli- gion. The rationale for this starting point is simple: terminology mat- ters. It shapes methods and focuses attention in illuminating ways. Ter- minology also carries assumptions that may occlude phenomena that might well be relevant to any given inquiry. It is important in this inves- tigation, therefore, to reflect critically on the terms employed. What, for example, is the difference between religion and the absence of religion— or between religion and spirituality— or between what I am calling nature religion, green religion, and dark green religion? Where are the boundaries between them? Do such distinctions illuminate or confuse our understanding of the world we inhabit? Religion and Family Resemblance Analysis There has been much debate, of course, about the origin, definition, and utility of the word religion. One of the reasons for this lack of con- sensus is the difficulty of agreeing on what characterizes “religious” phenomena. Does religion have a substantive essence? Or does it func- tion typically or universally in certain ways? Since people began thinking 1 2 INTRODUCING DARK GREEN RELIGION analytically about religion, many competing definitions have been of- fered. No consensus has emerged, however, including as to whether any specific traits or characteristics are essential to the phenomena. -
The New Meatways and Sustainability
Minna Kanerva The New Meatways and Sustainability Political Science | Volume 105 This open access publication has been enabled by the support of POLLUX (Fach- informationsdienst Politikwissenschaft) and a collaborative network of academic libraries for the promotion of the Open Access transformation in the Social Sciences and Humanities (transcript Open Li- brary Politikwissenschaft 2020) This publication is compliant with the “Recommendations on quality standards for the open access provision of books”, Nationaler Open Access Kontaktpunkt 2018 (https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2932189) Universitätsbibliothek Bayreuth | Landesbibliothek | Universitätsbibliothek Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt- Kassel | Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Universität zu Berlin | Staatsbibliothek Köln | Universität Konstanz, Kommuni- zu Berlin | Universitätsbibliothek FU kations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum Berlin | Universitätsbibliothek Bielefeld | Universitätsbibliothek Koblenz-Landau | (University of Bielefeld) | Universitäts- Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig | Zentral- u. bibliothek der Ruhr-Universität Bochum Hochschulbibliothek Luzern | Universitäts- | Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek | bibliothek Mainz | Universitätsbibliothek Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Marburg | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Universitätsbibliothek Dresden | Universi- München Universitätsbibliothek | Max tätsbibliothek Duisburg-Essen | Univer- Planck Digital Library | Universitäts- und sitäts- u. Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf | Landesbibliothek Münster | Universitäts-